Pinkie yawned as the first rays of the sun broke through her window. Beside her were energy drinks, caffeine pills, and chocolate, all to give her the caffeine to power through the night. Beside those was a parchment, borrowed from Twilight, and imbued with her magic. She would use it soon so that her two hour power nap would make it feel like eight. Though Twilight had warned her that energy was all it gave, and it stopped any sort of healing in the body for said energy, Pinkie didn’t mind. She only needed the energy.
She moved her mouse, clicking on the tab on her web browser that would bring her back to the Niponian chat site. She typed out a few quick messages apologizing for needing to go, but soon she would need to get to sleep, then work, and then her other friends, but that she would be on that night for sure. In response, she got friend requests from almost every pony in the chat. It made her heart swell, and she awkwardly typed back in their own language thanks for them being so accepting of her, and while they corrected her, it was with no hate or resentment. It only made Pinkie happier.
She accepted all of the friend requests of course, before switching tabs. She turned on some softer music to help her get ready for bed. She had one more to check on though, and clicked on the app: Harmony Tracker.
Immediately, Luna’s voice welcomed her to the program, and the new message of the day, to make sure to stay in touch with friends when you are sick, as their joy will bring you joy and health, rang through her ears. She grinned to herself. Any of the princesses could be chosen of course, and Pinkie adored Luna's softer tones ringing through her ears. While message was nice though, it was still not why she was on the app.
She closed out the message, and a few animated ponies came on screen around different graphs and charts that made up the main hub. The ponies were very simple, but adorable, with points for their hooves. The five there were the Elements of Harmony, but of course, and she waved to the one of herself in time with the regulated wave it always gave. A giggle escaped her as the tree of harmony began to grow in the middle. The thing she had been waiting for.
A score appeared in the tree’s roots, and as it rose, it got bigger and bigger. At one hundred, she just barely formed the roots. Pinkie had almost instantly blown past that score, and to the one hundred to three hundred range. There, you got to see a sapling tree approach, and Applejack would hold up a sign saying, Keep going! I know you can do better, while her own sprite held up, It’s beautiful, and has a bright future, just like you! She knew Twilight changed up the tiered messages, and they were set on random as is, but these were some of her favorites.
At three hundred to seven hundred, the tree bloomed from just a sapling, into a full grown tree. Two new symbols appeared on the tree at each hundred gained in that tier, starting with the elements, and ending with Celestia and Luna’s. Here, you got Rainbow saying, Wow! You’re almost as awesome as I am! and Fluttershy with a sign saying, I would love to have one as wonderful as you for tea someday. I’ll even make the sandwiches! Pinkie licked her lips at that, remembering when she was told that her and Fluttershy were the ones to plan the weekly Tree tier get togethers. Anyone at this rank was invited, and both provided the pony with a choice of loud and rambunctious, or soft and sweet, dependent on which pony’s party you went to. So far, they had been a major success.
Now she held her breath though. Breaking through seven hundred got the mystical box to show up. You would start getting on a mailing list from the princesses at this point, and get messages from them through the mail, and on here, and not just the daily ones, but ones reserved for this tier. They weren’t anything too extravagant, but Pinkie was collecting them as proof of her harmony and friendship achievements. Not only that though, but you would start getting a care package, and a quick pass onto trains and air balloons, so that you could spread your cheer with everypony else. Pinkie blinked and checked her own, sucking in her lips as she thought about the fact that she should get it replaced soon.
She watched as the score climbed higher. Now Rarity and Twilight smiled at her, their horns glowing and adding extra animations to the screen. Sparks, congratulations, all ignored as she watched the score raise, Twilight’s, I might just need to study YOU to learn more about friendship, and Rarity’s Your friendship is truly inspiring, and absolutely FABULOUS! were taken in only briefly as her heart hammered. With each fifty points, another key appeared onto the screen and inserted itself into the box. Pinkie had been stuck between nine hundred fifty and one thousand for almost a week now, and sweat came down her forehead as she watched.
Her friend request messages came up at the bottom right corner of the app, and she watched as each added another few points. 992….994….997...1001!
Pinkie jumped into the air with a holler, squealing in delight as she crashed back down, her whole body shaking, waiting. Celestia and Luna appeared on the screen and looked to her, before saying, not with signs or text, but actually saying, “We could not be prouder of you. An Equestrian as pure as us, harmony, friendship, and cheer have few they can rel-”
Pinkie’s heart felt like it stopped as the message stopped. She glanced down to her score and saw that it had dropped by five points. Her friend screen brought itself up, and showed her still almost a hundred points above anypony else. One line raised itself above the others though, and she saw who it was. Cranky had just finally slipped below a hundred points and sat at ninety three. His line was red now, and he had been branded as a component of chaos. Cadance and Twilight sat beside him while Sombra’s eyes loomed over his name. They said messages of disbelief, and sadness now.
Pinkie moved her mouse to him, and frowned. She had tried all month since the app’s mandate to be on every piece of electronic’s was enforced, and had tried helping Cranky make friends. He had slipped under the base two hundred easily, and she knew that his score was dragging hers down, even before now. To think that he had gone against harmony enough to lose his roots… She shut her eyes. Pinkie had known what she should do for her score for a while now, to make her the best friend maker in Equestria, and now even the app made sure she knew.
The cursor moved to his name and right clicked. The option to cut the line appeared in bold, with Twilight saying to her from the screen, “While it may hurt, sometimes you need to leave behind a bad influence so that you may help the greater whole.”
Pinkie nodded, and shut her eyes as she pressed down on the left mouse button. “I’m sorry Cranky.”
Almost immediately, her score jumped almost forty points, and she was brought back to the main screen. Celestia and Luna came back on screen, and their voices helped massage her pain, and caused her to smile. Her thoughts of Cranky almost entirely vanished though when the box began to glow. It raised itself into the air, and the whole screen became white.
On screen, was a castle creator now. It had to be a variant of either Canterlot Castle, Twilight’s, or the Crystal Castle, but it still swelled her heart to see what she now got to do, and that she could change it at any time. She was busily making Twilight’s castle have enough top branches so as to resemble a lollipop, when a new perk for the tier came up, describing how she could now get her passport almost instantly, her internet provider would be notified to make sure she never slowed down, and, most importantly to Pinkie, if she got five other friends to form the other Elements of Harmony in her town, her town would get a monthly day long visit by at least one, if not all of the princesses.
Pinkie squealed in delight, almost instantly getting a screenshot of the message, and going to Trotter. She typed furiously in her post, letting everyone know that she was the first in Equestria to break a thousand, and encouraging everypony else to work towards getting the princesses to their towns, just so you can befriend them too!
The second she hit post, her score went up by ten.